October 5, 2008

RAMS RUN TO PERSONAL BESTS AT LEHIGH MEET
Five of six Rams run personal bests
Full Results

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Virginia Commonwealth University men’s cross country team enjoyed an excellent afternoon of running at the 35th annual Lehigh University Brooks Paul Short Run in Bethlehem, Pa.

Five of the Rams’ six runners set personal bests in the 8K event on Friday. 

“We had a terrific day,” VCU coach Julian Spooner said.  “This is one of the top events in the country with some of the top teams and runners there, and our guys did an excellent job.”

VCU finished in 29th place.  The event was won by Wisconsin, which placed three runners in the top 10.  Liberty University sophomore Sam Chelanga won the meet with a time of 23 minutes, 5 seconds.

The Rams’ top runner on the afternoon was junior Piotr Dybas, who covered the course in 24 minutes, 56 seconds to place 73rd.  That’s almost a full minute better than his previous best, set at the 2007 Colonial Athletic Associaton championships.

Others who scored for VCU were senior Jay Wyss (25:02, 87th), senior Joey Wingo (25:50, 171st), freshman Tyler Simmons (26:48, 237th) and sophomore John Vial (28:03, 280th).Junior Stephen Mutisya sat out the meet to rest an injury.

Unfortunately for the Rams, one of their best performances of the day did not count in the final results.  Senior Tim Rusterholz set a personal best with a time of 26.00.   But his timing chip fell off his shoe somewhere along the course and his time wasn’t recorded as official.  

“It’s unfortunate but it doesn’t take away from it being a terrific run for Tim,” Spooner said.  “He knows he ran it and I know he ran it and it will help him a lot as we continue to prepare for the conference meet.”

VCU will run in the William and Mary Invitational on Oct. 18, the final meet before the CAA championships on Nov. 1 in Manassas.

For more on VCU cross country and all the Rams’ sports, visit www.vcuathletics.com.